Creating Anti-Bias Video means – Kill Your Darlings.
It sounds harsh, doesn’t it? But in terms of creating anti-bias video, “kill your darlings” is a well-known piece of advice. It means being ready to get rid of your most cherished ideas—the ones you’ve fallen in love with—for the good of the overall project. It’s a phrase that’s been attributed to writers from Oscar Wilde to William Faulkner, but its origins can be traced back to Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch in 1916.
But what has this got to do with your organisation’s video marketing? Well, quite a lot, actually.
You’re passionate about your organisation’s mission. You live and breathe it every day. And when it comes to creating a video to showcase your incredible work, it’s only natural that you have a clear idea of what you want to say and how you want to say it.
But here’s the thing: that passion, that closeness to the subject, can sometimes be a double-edged sword. You might be holding onto an idea that you love, but that doesn’t necessarily mean it’s the most effective one to achieve your goals.
Don’t Get Lost In The Long Game
In his famous “9 Life Lessons” speech at the University of Western Australia, comedian and writer Tim Minchin advises against having big, long-term dreams. Instead, he says, “I advocate passionate dedication to the pursuit of short-term goals. Be micro-ambitious.”
He argues that if you’re too focused on a distant goal, you might miss the “shiny thing out of the corner of your eye” – a more immediate, and potentially more rewarding, opportunity.
In the context of your video, your long-term goal might be to, say, double your recycling programme’s uptake. That’s a fantastic, ambitious goal. But if you’re laser-focused on a specific video idea you believe is the only way to achieve it, you might be shutting yourself off from a more creative, engaging, and ultimately more successful, approach.
Challenge Your Own Bias For The Best Anti-Bias Video
Minchin also urges us to “be hard on your opinions… Identify your biases, your prejudices, your privileges.” We all have them, and they can unconsciously shape our ideas.
When it comes to video, it’s easy for a passionate decision-maker to come up with a brilliant idea that’s perfect for an audience of one: themselves. The problem is, if the idea only truly resonates with you, it almost certainly won’t achieve your wider objective. Your personal preferences for a certain style or tone might not connect with the very people you’re trying to reach.
Especially when you are trying to inspire positive change, this can be a major issue. Coming up with an idea with no real empathy for your target audience is a common hurdle for organisations. You might love a serious, data-heavy, documentary-style approach, but a more lighthearted, story-led anti-bias video could be what truly captures people’s attention and inspires them to act.
When A Video Brief Is More Of A Command
Sometimes, clients come to us with a fully-formed video brief. They’ve written the script, planned the shots, and they expect us to simply press the ‘record’ button. We love the enthusiasm! But for us to just take that brief and run with it without question would be a disservice to you.
You’re hiring us for our expertise, and that includes the ability to spot potential problems. We are here to create for you an anti-bias video. Our professional integrity means we can’t just nod, take your money and agree to an approach if we genuinely believe it won’t work.
Think of it this way: if we can see that your chosen path is going to lead to a video you won’t be happy with, or one that won’t get the results you need, we have a duty to tell you. When we know better, when we know this is going to lead to a bad result, we won’t agree to it. It’s about ensuring your investment pays off.
The Power Of A Fresh Anti-Bias Video Perspective
This is where we come in. As video production professionals, we can offer an objective perspective. We’re not as emotionally invested in your ideas as you are, which means we can look at them with a fresh pair of eyes and see what’s working and what’s not.
To make sure our collective ideas are on the right track, we can use proven methodologies to challenge our assumptions. This isn’t about guesswork. We can test concepts, storyboards, or even rough cuts with small groups that represent your actual target audience. Getting their direct feedback is the ultimate way to make sure a message will land effectively, long before we get to the final edit. It helps us move from “I think this will work” to “we know this will work.”
Our goal is the same as yours: to achieve your objectives using anti-bias video. We’re on your side. But we also have the expertise to know what will and won’t work on screen. Sometimes, that means gently suggesting that we “kill a darling” in favour of an idea that will have a bigger impact. Think of us as a critical friend.
5 Things to Do Before You Call a Video Production Company In Order To Create An Anti-Bias Video
So here’s a little homework before you contact a video production company that can help make the entire video production process smoother, faster, and most importantly, create an anti-bias video. By thinking through these key areas, you’ll be ready to have a truly productive conversation and set your project up for success from day one.
1. Define Your Video’s Purpose and Objectives
Before anything else, ask yourself: “Why are we making this video?” The answer can’t just be “because we need a video.” or because your competitor has one. You need a clear purpose. Are you trying to increase sales for a specific service? Drive traffic to your campaign website? Recruit new team members? Attract donators? Once you know, make sure you share that purpose with your chosen creative proffesional.
Once you have a purpose, think about what success looks like and how you can measure it. For example, a clear objective isn’t just “raise awareness” but “increase mailing list sign-ups from our landing page by 20% within three months.” The clearer your goal, the more focused and effective your anti-bias video will be. If you are unsure, then we can help you identify an achieveable goal.
2. Make Sure Your Brand Is Spot On
Your video is a direct reflection of your organisation. If its tone, style, or message doesn’t align perfectly with your brand, it will feel disjointed and fail to connect with your audience. Before starting, ensure your branding is clear and consistent.
Do you have brand guidelines? What is your established tone of voice—are you serious and authoritative, or fun and informal? Having a clear sense of your visual identity and brand personality is crucial. A great anti-bias video should feel like a natural extension of your brand, not a standalone project.
Again, if you feel you do not have a clear brand yet, then we can help you with that.
3. Identify Your Target Audience(s)
You can’t create an effective message without knowing who you’re talking to. “The general public” is not a specific enough audience. Try to be as precise as possible. Are you targeting senior-level sustainability officers in FTSE 100 companies, or environmentally-conscious millennials in urban areas? You may have multiple audiences and so will likely need different anti-bias video approaches in order to be effective.
Think about their motivations, their challenges, and what kind of content they engage with. Creating simple “audience personas” can be a massive help. The more you understand your audience, the better we can tailor the video’s style, language, and distribution to resonate with them.
At Film Division, we are all about creating empathy with target audiences, so if you need some guidance in your audience research then let us help you.
4. Brainstorm Three Different Ideas (But Don’t Get Attached!)
It’s great to come to the table with some initial creative thoughts. However, if you choose the develop the very first idea that you come up with, you could end up with “a” video rather than the “right” video. So thinking about a few different approaches helps kickstart the creative process with your team. Perhaps one idea is a testimonial-led video, another is a beautifully designed animated explainer, and a third is a fast-paced, social-media-first concept. This approach is a part of our creative manifesto!
The crucial part, as we discussed in our blog, is not to fall in love with any single idea. Hold them loosely. These initial concepts are a starting point for a collaborative discussion, not a final command.
5. Set a Realistic Budget That Matches the Project’s Importance
This can feel like the trickiest part, but it’s the most important for a productive conversation for everyone involved. To start, don’t just think about what the video will cost; think about what it’s worth. Frame the budget around the importance of the problem you’re trying to solve. As the business philosopher Jim Rohn said, “Don’t spend major time on minor things.” Your budget should reflect the value you place on the outcome.
Here’s a helpful thought experiment to run before determining your budget.
- What is the potential business a successful video could generate? If the goal is to increase sales, what new revenue would a small percentage increase create? Thinking this way frames the budget as an investment for a measurable return, not just a cost. It helps answer the question: “Does spending £X seem appropriate to generate £Y of new revenue?”
- How important is this project? Look at your organisation’s other expenses. Where would this videos’ budget rank? People spend money on what they value. A budget that is disproportionately small for a self-proclaimed “major business problem” sends a mixed message.
This crucial work ensures the final product isn’t just a pretty video made to combat “video envy” of your competitors, but a powerful tool that actually works.
If a proposed budget is too small to cover this vital strategic work, a good video production company should be honest with you. Its a matter of determining effort verses result. We don’t want to take your money to do something that won’t succeed. If the budget and the goal feel misaligned, we might even suggest that you could get a bigger impact by investing that money elsewhere in the organisation.
It all comes down to one question: is this project truly important to you? If it is, let’s invest in it properly.
Putting Our Anti-Bias Video Ideas To The Test
So how do we guard against our own biases and make sure an idea is genuinely going to work? We test it. This isn’t about guesswork; it’s about using proven methodologies to make data-informed creative decisions.
One of the most powerful tools is audience testing. We can take a concept, a storyboard, or even a rough cut of the video to a small focus group made up of people who represent your actual target audience. Getting their direct, honest feedback is the ultimate way to see if a message will land effectively. It helps us move from “I think this will work” to “we know this will work.”
For digital campaigns, we can also use A/B testing to see how different thumbnails, headlines, or calls to action perform in a live environment, optimising for the best possible engagement. It’s a practical way to let the audience themselves tell us what they want.
So, if you’re ready to let go of your darlings and embrace a new way of thinking, get in touch. Let’s work together to create an anti-bias video that not only tells your story, but also gets the results you’re looking for.
